I read a post earlier on a Facebook group that stated "nothing gets through nitrile gloves". This is not accurate.

Nitrile gloves do not provide adequate protection against chemicals used in nail products. It is known that methacrylates especially pass through the nitrile easily - in minutes.

I have been in contact with several nitrile glove manufacturers and sent them a list of the common ingredients in nail products, to ask if they tested their gloves with any of the ingredients. None of them have!

A couple of weeks ago, I thought that I had found the Holy Grail, a company advertising disposable gloves that offered full protection against 260 chemicals - so called H4 grade. These cost 5 Euro per pair! Unfortunately, even these gloves had not been tested with common nail product ingredients 

Nitrile gloves with a recommended thickness of 0.19mm on fingers and palm, are recommended by expert Doug Schoon. Or double glove if you use thinner gloves. One advice I have read was to replace every 30 minutes.

It would be foolish not to wear nitrile gloves, but do use the correct thickness - the thicker they are, the longer it will take for chemicals to break through the nitrile to the skin. It is also advisable to also use a skin barrier cream like "Gloves in a Bottle" under the gloves and on arms. Apply this with each glove change.

Better still, also use hypoallergenic products that don't contain the three leading nail product allergens in the UK, such as those developed by IKON.IQ Nails:

  1. HEMA 

  2. 2-Hydroxypropyl methacrylate (2-HPMA, HPMA) 

  3. Ethyl Acrylate

It is especially important to use the correct UV lamp (read my blog post on UV lamps to understand why. Many brand owners and Educators are giving false information and need to read this too!).

Undercured gel dust is a major cause of allergies - especially the invisible micron size dust that floats in the air and lands on any exposed skin. This builds up like pollution in the salon air, increasing the concentration with each client and remains until you thoroughly vent the room by opening all external doors and windows. The solution is to use a Source Capture System salon air filter. Yes, these are "expensive" - but less expensive that having to give up a career that you love.